PUNJAB Finance Minister Makhdoom Hashim Javan Bakht said that resources will be distributed to district governments under a regular formula under the next Provincial Finance Commission (PFC). The Minister expressed these views during a briefing on the Provincial Financial Awards in a meeting with Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, Muhammad Jahanzeb Khan at the Finance Department.
The commitment of the provincial government as enunciated by the Finance Minister that the local government funds will be increased and the scope of powers will be expanded in order to improve the delivery of services at the local level is reassuring as these are the crucial issues linked to the improvement of delivery at the grassroots. This assumes greater importance in view of what we witnessed during tenure of the existing local bodies, which became operational after a considerable delay and in the remaining period they did not receive due funds to perform their responsibilities effectively. This is despite the fact that local body institutions play a pivotal role in addressing problems of the people and empowering them in real sense of the word. It is regrettable that the provinces continue to pressurize the Federation to give more share to them out of the federal divisible pool and, in fact, they are getting handsome resources but they are not transferring funds down to the district and tehsil levels. In this backdrop, the intentions expressed by the Punjab Finance Minister are laudable as the provincial government plans to give share in royalties and profits to areas with natural resources and also give priority to development work under district-level projects. It is also important that the capability of the local governments to utilize available resources in a timely and judicious manner should also be strengthened through posting of capable hands and their regular training.
